Arrrrgh! Corded Kuhmo Ecsta V700's
 

How many heat cycles or track sessions are you guys getting out of your Ecsta V700's? I have 11 30 minute track sessions on mine, as well as some trips to and from the track, as well as some street driving. I have a 4" x 12" corded section right in the middle of the tire. Scary to think I drove home from Willow this way. Is this about the expected life of these tires? At least they are semi-affordable. I guess the average cost of a track day just went up....sigh.

I think you wrung your money's worth out of those. :p

That's whut I wus beginnin to assume. Thanks Milt! I need to beg for a raise :)

That's no good. Did you even calculate how many miles you got out of them or would that be too depressing? I just got some new tires on mine. I got the Falken FK451 and got all four of them mounted and balanced for just over $400. I might make it to next breakfast so I can show them to you. Otherwise we can have that famous beer we have been talking about for long. So far they have been good driving on long highway trips but I did not yet abuse them like you did yours...

Hope you are doing OK. I have to get up early for a bike ride tomorrow moring so I'm going to sleep now.

Brad, we were just talking about that on Wednesday! Check with Tyson, he may have a better idea on length of time but I think Milt is spot on. From what I have read here on the board and elsewhere you got your moneys worth. They might last longer if you didnt drive on the track so erratic or maybe kept them up with a full armorall shine. :D

Harold and Brad (and any one else) I am heading down to the PCA breakfast next Saturday ( 10/02 ). Will have all 3 kids and the burb. Going to do some seat shopping after.

Nice tires - try the Toyo Proxes RA/1 next go 'round for some longer tread life and amazing 'stick' -

It seems they all wear out in the same fasion. I have about 15 heat cycles on V700 Victoracers and the rears are near the end in the middle as you describe. However, the fronts have tons of life left. I flipped them on the wheel and move the more worn set to the passenger side to help a little.

John

See how dirty this 911 is!



http://www.opentrackracing.com/wsir0904/p088.jpg

Its just scream'n WASH ME!!!

:D

Milt's right,

I average about 7 one day events on mine... about 40 laps per event, that's about 70 track miles... I think the math works out to about 6 track hours and about 500 track miles total... not counting miles to and from ...

I'd be jumping for joy if I got your mileage...:rolleyes:

BTW... just ordered a new set on Thursday...;)

Cheers,

If you're cording the center, and they are wearing quickly, you might have had too much pressure.

I get over 30 sessions on my Victoracer V700s. Of course by then they are as hard as rocks and my car weighs 1800#, but I have never corded a set.

There's a big difference between the ecsta v700 and victoracer v700. The ecsta has been known to wear prematurely on the outer side of the center band... the "groove of doom."

Victoracers, on the other hand, last much longer. I tried the ecstas for a while, had the same issue you're having, and went back to the victoracers.

If you corded the center, definitely too much pressure.

If the car is setup properly and the driver smooth, the current crop of DOTR tires will usually get hard from heat cycles before the tread wears out.

Rapid tread wear is a red flag that something in the setup (or driving technique) needs to be corrected.

FWIW the set on my car has been run at several events over the past year (and yes these were more than 3 1/2 lap events)! However I do alternate between sets of tires and also have rotated the tires around the car to even out the wear; for example, at the Streets we switch between CW & CCW directions so I swap the tires from left to right accordingly.

Obviously my car is different (a bit lighter & mid-engined) but there could be a suspension setup or heat (driving style / line) factor at work here as I don't think your pressures were THAT high, right?

I'll have to re-check the cold pressures, have not changed them since I got home. Gee, I wonder if it was Tysons driving style that did it :) I know for a fact the pressures were too high for the previous two events, probably 33/36 hot. IIRC, I bled them down to 26/28 hot by the end of this most recent event.

I'll say it again: This is an endemic problem with the Ecsta V700. Every one of those tires I've ever seen has the same issue, and it's not due to overinflation.

It wasn't my fault!! Really! At least I saved it :) I think I left a couple sets of skidmarks...doh!

The problem I'm having is excessive wear of the tires on the right side. Both front and rear tires exhibit the same pattern, which is a 'roughening' of the center portion of the tread. By this I mean the center of the tread appears more rough than the outsides. There is a very obvious dip as you look across the tire, which seems to be steeper against the outside of the V700, where the tread blocks are more shallow. I'll take a picture when I get home.

My guess is that it's because Thunderhill has more left turns than rights.

I'm not sure what to do about it; run a couple PSI lower on the right side?

The last time out, I put ~160 track miles on the tires, plus ~100 miles each way to the track.

The car has all new bushings and ER monoballs, fairly new Bilstein sports in the rear, older Bilstein HD's in the front. Fresh alignment.

FWIW, my street tires do not exhibit this wear pattern.

I'll snap some pics too. Willow is mostly rights, and fast, hard rights at that. No wonder it's only the left-rear wheel...

If you got 11 sessions out of a set of tires that is pretty good.

Chris, how in the heck are you getting 30 sessions on a set of Victoracers? My car is only 1985 lbs and has only 170 HP at the rear wheels and my rears are gone in about 8 sessions. The fronts last me double that if not more. I am wearing the tires just about perfectly as well. Equal wear pretty much across the whole tire.

Ijust purchased some of the Toyos to try at my next event.

The 225/50/15 victoracers on my 2700lb E30 M3 have lasted me about 9 track days... e.g. 33-36 sessions. There's still a day left on them, most likely.

I also just purchased toyos. curious to see how they'll do.